Design and Modeling of a thermally regulated communications module for nanospacecraft

• A silicon-based integrated communications and thermal management microsystem qualifying for use on Nanospace-1, a modularized microsystem-based advanced integrated nanospacecraft, is presented. The transmitter and receiver share the same module framework with essential differences only in the electronics implementation. A data rate of 1 Mbps for the transmitter and 114 kbps for the receiver is accomplished with a transmitter power for the spacecraft and ground station of 2 and 10 W, respectively. Concurrent triple usage of paraffin as low loss antenna substrate, actuator material, and heat sink is designed and analyzed for the first time. On low-power or short-time high-power dissipation of heat from the electronics, energy is stored as latent heat in this phase-change material acting as a heat sink. Thermal transport through the module is initiated,by actuation of thermal switches when 75% of the paraffin's latent heat is consumed. A static thermal analysis reveals a thermal modulation factor of 5.6 between the on and off states of the thermal switches. The size of the module is 6.6 x 68 x 68 mm, and its weight is 43 g.

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